May 20, 2008 10:03 am US/Eastern
Basketball Ref To Be Sentenced In Betting Probe
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Disgraced basketball referee Tim Donaghy
should be sentenced to probation because he cooperated in the probe into NBA
betting and because he has "a pathological gambling condition," his lawyers
said in a letter filed in court Monday.
In the letter to U.S. District Court Judge Carol B. Amon,
filed in Brooklyn federal court, lawyers for
Donaghy argued that their client's cooperation with government investigators in
the betting probe "will lead to future reforms that will change the way in which
the NBA conducts itself."
The veteran referee pleaded guilty last year to felony
charges for taking cash payoffs from gamblers and betting on games he officiated.
While citing Donaghy's commitment to his family, charitable activities
and positive feedback for his career as a referee prior to his "tragic fall
from grace," the lawyers said that their client's "aberrant conduct" can only
be understood in the context of his gambling addiction, a "crippling disease,
which prevented him from exercising complete rational self control."
Nevertheless, the lawyers said Donaghy is taking steps to
get treatment for his condition, including therapy with a gambling counselor
and attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings.
"Without a doubt, Tim made significant errors in judgment,
but he also tried to right the wrongs of his conduct by assisting the government
and seeking treatment for his disorder," the lawyers asserted.
NBA spokesman Joel Litvin called the filing a "desperate act
of a convicted felon who is hoping to avoid prison time... the only thing it
proves is that Mr. Donaghy is no more trustworthy today then he was when he was
breaking the law by betting on NBA games."
Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced on May 22.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
